The Lineman

by Tom Milton

Everything changes for Paola and her family when her husband Danny, working as a lineman for the electric company, falls from a cherry picker onto the pavement and crushes his shoulder. After two major surgeries, and months of pain and physical therapy, Danny hopes that the company will let him resume working as a lineman, which is more than just a job for him—it’s his identity as a man. So when the company decides he’s no longer physically able to work as a lineman and instead offers him a job managing work crews, he refuses to accept their decision and sues them for making him work with faulty equipment. When he loses his lawsuit for justifiable reasons, he loses his job and he loses the compensation that the company has been paying him for his injury, so he must find other employment. Paola, whose father has given her full ownership of Borgatti Electric, the business he built over his lifetime, offers Danny a job as an electrician and an equal partnership in the business. He tries this job, and he does it well, but he doesn’t love it the way he loved his job as a lineman, and unable to deal with the new reality, he gets addicted to a series of things from the opioids he was given for the pain in his shoulder to video games to online gambling. Inevitably, he amasses an enormous debt to the organization that runs the gambling. After using the business without Paola’s knowledge to borrow money to pay off his debt, he continues gambling, and losing, and running up debt, to the point where she realizes that his behavior threatens the survival of her family.

196 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 18, 2020

About the author

I have been writing all my life, and sixtteen years ago I started getting my novels published. Since then I have had twenty-two novels published: No Way to Peace, The Admiral’s Daughter, All the Flowers, Infamy, A Shower of Roses, Sara's Laughter, The Golden Door, Outside the Gate, Leave of Absence, Invisible Wounds, Orphans of War, The Silver Locket, Eden Valley, The Godmother, The Last Resort, The Lineman, The Lost Summer, Milos and Amira, A Contrite Heart, Blind in Granada, and A Residue of Hope.

I write novels not only to entertain but also to bring a deeper understanding of how the major events of our time challenge our values. In their pursuit of lofty goals, my protagonists encounter situations that expose their inner conflicts and test their commitments. My books appeal to educated readers of serious fiction and are popular with reading groups. They all have book discussion guides that include an introduction, a conversation with the author, and questions for discussion.

My first career was in journalism with the Wall Street Journal, after which I served in the army during the Vietnam War. Then I joined a large international bank and worked overseas, initially as an economic and political analyst, applying skills I learned in journalism and the military. I spent the next thirty years living and working in foreign countries, which has given me settings for my novels (Buenos Aires, Madrid, London, Santo Domingo, and so on).

For further information on my novels, please visit my website at http://tomilton.com.

Publisher: Nepperhan Press, PO Box 1448, Yonkers, NY 10702, nepperhan.com